Inspectors set for crucial visit to Ukraine nuclear plant as Ukrainian forces battle to retake Russian-occupied Kherson
Kyiv — The U.S. National Security Council has called for a team of investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be guaranteed "safe, unfettered access" to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which is caught on the front line of Russia's war in Ukraine. NSC spokesman John Kirby said there should be a demilitarized zone established around the sprawling Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as the facility sustained new damage from the fighting that has fueled fears of a potential nuclear disaster.
CBS News foreign correspondent Debora Patta said the IAEA team was in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday before heading for the Russian-occupied power plant, where the international inspectors will assess damage, security concerns and the conditions under which Ukrainian technicians are working.
It will be the first time a team from the United Nations-backed IAEA has gone in to investigate a nuclear plant occupied by military forces during an ongoing war.
Patta said that more than half a year of Russian occupation has turned the Zaporizhzhia power plant into a military base right on an explosive front line in the war, with both sides trading accusations of shelling in the area.
Kyiv has accused Russia of hitting the nearby village of Energodar and others in the shadow of the plant with artillery fired from within the compound, while Russia claims a Ukrainian missile strike punched a giant hole in a fuel depot at the site this week.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Serhiy Leshchenko offered a chilling warning that the fighting could cause a disastrous meltdown.
"It's international terrorism, nuclear terrorism, what Russia is doing in the region," Leshchenko told CBS News. "This nuclear power station is the biggest in Europe, and in case of [a] catastrophe, [it] is going to be six times more than in Chernobyl."
The IAEA inspectors were expected to get to work on Wednesday, but Russia made it clear Monday that much about the visit, and its anticipated outcome, was still the subject of negotiations. One key point still up in the air was a suggestion by the atomic watchdog agency's chief that it could be necessary to maintain a lasting IAEA presence at the nuclear facility.
"Russia is interested in this mission of an IAEA delegation, has taken part in its preparations, and is open to cooperation and interaction," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Monday.
Asked specifically about the prospects of a permanent IAEA mission at Zaporizhzhia, Peskov said "further actions will be discussed on site, and everything will depend on the details."
He was also asked about the calls for the vast nuclear complex to be made a demilitarized zone.
"No, this is not on the table," he said.
The IAEA team's visit comes as Ukraine's forces, emboldened by the steady supply of Western military aid, wage an intensifying counteroffensive to retake the southern region of Kherson, which isn't far away.
Patta said Ukraine's military has held nothing back. Video posted online by a Russian soldier caught up in the fight this week showed how the much-talked-up counteroffensive has intensified.
"They're hitting us with everything they've got — tanks, aviation, artillery," shouts the soldier as he lays on the ground, taking cover from incoming fire.
Kherson was the first major city to fall to Russia's invading forces in the early days of the war. Residents say they've lived in fear under their Russian occupiers for more than six months, accusing them of kidnap and torture.
The coming days could prove crucial to deciding the fate of those civilians, and the inspectors hoping to head off a potential global disaster at the nuclear plant nearby.